AAA is it worth the money?

[mom-from-missouri]

I am not aware of any website-I did a search, but nothing caught my eye. To compare rates, you might try your cell phone company. I have Cingular, and they offer it for $2.99 a month. That is the cheapest I have found so far. I used to have it thru Montgomery Ward, but I cancelled it after I got uspet with them. They were going to raise my rate because I used it too many times (3 times in one year). For my RV, I use the Good Sam club. My other choices are thru my auto insurance, AARP, and thru my union at work. Some colleges even offer it (along with insurance packages) for students who commute. Try your local yellow pages to see who is listed.

[barbara L]

I have AAA. I've never even used it for car service. My daughter on the other hand has used it several times. I originally got it because I have an SUV and I couldn't change the tires even if I knew how. I also plan all my vacations through them. They have gotten me in places that I couldn't get through other vacation companies. Also they are nationwide and when you travel, if need be, you can use it out of the state. I can pay car registrations through them too. I wouldn't give them up.

[cercis]

I just found out they also offer home insurance (sorry if someone mentioned it earlier and I didn't catch it).

We're buying a house and I need insurance. So far, AAA is the cheapest, but they didn't include hurricane damage and I'll need that here.

[flash]

Until recently, I was going to let our AAA roadside expire. We dropped the insurance years ago, but kept the auto club.

But, when my husband totalled his Jeep (got hit by an AT&T truck!), he called me to come help. He was in shock, I called our roadside assistance through GM, the assistance through our dealer, the assistance through our insurance (which is great insurance), AAA. and the police. I called the 800 number. AAA responded immediately, had a truck and people there within 15 minutes. GM never responded, insurance came the next day to do the estimate and SAID they sent someone out, but by the time the accident was cleaned up several hours later they still hadn't showed.

[apn64]

The only way that AAA is worth the money is if you own a vehicle that is breaking down all the time or if you travel extensively. Even if traveling a lot, a 120 dollar map is pretty expensive. If your vehicle is breaking down a lot you only get four service calls from AAA and after that you have to pay for them. If you have a vehicle that is still under warrantee you probably have roadside assistance covered under that. Most towers tow for a number of different motorclubs. AAA pays the tow companies a very low rate. Anywhere from three quarters to half of the retail rate. So most towing companies prioritized their calls and you can guess where the low paying motorclubs come in. The absolute fastest service is provided by calling the towing company direct. If you have roadside assistance on your insurance you have to pay for the tow and then get reimbursed some of the time. But there are a lot of times where if you have your agent call a tow company the tow company will bill your insurance.

[misschris]

The last three vacations we took, we got our travelers checks from AAA FREE of charge. I'm also in there several times a year for maps (send them to my family as "gifts") :-)

We also bought our home/auto/umbrella insurance from them and they gave us a GREAT deal from a highly rated company.

Therefore, I like AAA a lot for other than help with towing companies.

I'm sure they offer other services, which I have yet to explore.

[abowers]

I am a big fan of AAA. Due to having older cars in the past, some bad luck and me being scatterbrained... I have used AAA a lot. Most of this experience is while in Rochester NY or the surrounding suburbs.

-December 01 - My alternator died (while I was in the middle of an intersection) Tow Truck came fast (which was good because it was December in upstate NY - brrrrrrr).
-Summer 02 - locked my keys in my car. oops.
-September 03 - I got a flat tire on the expressway while in the left lane at rush hour!!
-April 04 - One of my hoses broke while driving, the coolant drained and my engine overheated while 90 miles from home!! Thanks to 100 miles of towing, I got my car to my prefered garage and a friend picked me up there. - That took a couple but I was in Ithaca and it was a Saturday so they had to call a tow truck driver from home to come get me.
-Summer 04 - apparently my emergency brake was rusted (rear drum brakes?) I had my emergency brake on when parked, got in to leave, took the brake off, my car wouldn't back up (down a hill)! Had to have it towed to the shop to deal with that issue. AAA came quickly here too - on a weekend!
-April 05 - locked my keys in my car again. while at my apartment. oops again.
-May 05 my car was hit while parked on the street outside my apartment overnight...and I awoke to find it TOTALED. Tow truck came quickly to flatbed my smashed car to the shop.

We've also used their triptik services A LOT. A couple trips to Vermont. A Long road trip down to Florida, back up through Atlanta, and DC.

Free maps for the NJ area when we moved here this July.

I think I've gotten my money's worth.

After borrowing a car from my boyfriend's awesome parents for 2 months, and after sharing the car with my boyfriend after we moved, for the past 4 months, we got a 2nd car (NEW) a couple weeks ago, which has free roadside assistance. So I will be stopping my AAA for the time being. Hopefully I won't need the roadside assistance for a while on the new car!